The History of Bundoran Fire Brigade
Bundoran Fire Brigade was officially formed in 1975 although,
there was an old Merryweather Trailer Pump in the town since 1929. From
newspapers from years goneby, it was noted that up to 14 volunteers would be
available in the town for fire duties. This pump would have
been operated by a number of unpaid volunteers in the town and was in operation
until the late 1950's when a Fire Brigade was formed in Ballyshannon using a
"Green Goddess" Fire Engine and paid crew and it was decided that it would
cover Bundoran as well.
However around 1974, after a number of large fires in
the town over the years, including the old Atlantic Hotel, the townspeople
and local Councillors decided that a Fire Station was needed for the town.
In 1974 a site of land was bought for £25 Punts by Bundoran Urban Council and the current
Fire Station was built in June 1975. In September a Fire Appliance was made
available by Donegal County Council and they took over the responsibility of
running the new station.
Currently the old 1929 pump is being restored to its original state and its
brass and copper fittings are perfect in every detail. We hope to have it on
display in the town very shortly.
Above is a photograph of the first crew after receiving their
First Aid certificates.
From left to right in the photograph, Denis McManus
(Deceased, Station Officer), Johnny Mulreaney (Retired Driver/mechanic), Joe Chapman (
Retired), PJ Clancy (Retired Station Officer),
Martin Harte (
Retired), John Delaney ( Deceased),
The first retained crew was made up of six men, and their first
appliance was a Landrover, as seen in the background in the picture. We still
have in our possession some of their Firefighting rigs and helmets. When an
emergency arose, the Station Officer who had an emergency 999 telephone in his
house, would be alerted and he would set off the siren on the station to alert
the other men. This meant that the men would have to listen out for the siren at
all times. This was the way in which all retained Brigades were called out in
the early days. This system was used until the "Bleeper" system became
available. Each Fireman would now carry an alerter, and this made call-outs more
reliable and faster.
The landrover appliance in the background of the photo above, is similar to the
one pictured here, which incidentally is an old Donegal County Fire Service appliance.
Interesting information
about the Land Rover Fire Engine
Made to carry only 6 of a crew,
these were built mainly for the RAF and the British Military from 1969
onwards, it was called a Land Rover 109" IIB Forward Control Fire
Engine and made by HCB
Angus in the UK and had a 2.6
litre 6-cylinder petrol engine. This "forward
control Landrover" was so called because it was based on the 109 series jeep
but had its cab over the engine. After military use they would have been
sold to Fire Authorities. Its pump was a 450/650 gpm Godiva,
and carried 100 gallons of water. Production ceased in the early
1970s. Also known as "Firefly" in the RAF.
The next appliance
we had was a Bedford "Green Goddess" as they
were known, and this would carry more men compared to the
previous smaller Land Rover. These were painted green and used after World War 2.
In later years they were bought
and distributed among many County Councils in
Ireland to be painted red and put into
frontline Fire Service. Our Green Goddess was in service with us until summer
1981and was used at the time of the tragic Central Hotel Fire
and can be seen in this black and white picture at the St
Patrick's Day Parade in 1981.
Reg ZP ???
Interesting information about the "Green
Goddesses"
These originally green-painted vehicles were built by Bedford
between 1953 and 1956 for the Auxiliary Fire Service in the UK which
was a civilian volunteer force created to fight fires and pump water
in the event of a nuclear attack on Britain, and based on the
Bedford RL series Military truck. After the AFS was disbanded in
1968 they were sold to Fire Authorities in the UK and Ireland. They
had a 4.9litre 110 bhp
petrol engine, and 4 speed manual gearbox. They were relatively slow
with a maximum speed of around 65 miles per hour (105 km/h), a
comfortable cruising speed of 45 miles per hour (72 km/h), no power
steering, and sensitive on corners. But one advantage that some
Green Goddesses enjoyed over most modern fire appliances is their
four-wheel drive. Fuel consumption was between 8 mpg and 10 mpg- ,
depending on driving style and quantity water carried. They also
carried less water capacity at 400 imperial gallons (1,800 L) in 4x2
form, 300 imperial gallons (1,400 L) on 4x4 versions, than a modern
vehicle, and poorer stability due to a lack of baffle partitions in
the water tank. The vehicle cabins were made of wood, and offered
very little crew protection in the event of an accident.
Mechanically, they were designed to be robust and easy to maintain.
Alot of these "Green
Goddesses" were auctioned off from a estimated fleet of 1000 by the
British Government in 2005, as they were no longer needed to cover
Firefighter strikes.
(they were famously used in the 1977 and 2005 Firefighter Strikes in
the UK and were manned by Army Personnel). Under a new
legislation in the UK, the Secretary of State has powers to make
available red engines in the event of a fire strike in the interests
of public safety, which means Fire & Rescue Authorities having to
provide adequate spare Red Engines for Fire Cover.
So the Green Goddess dies into history!
The Bedford Angus was our next appliance and delivered to us
in 1981. It was in service with us until 2000. It was a brilliant
workhorse, and for its day, it was extremely well built and had adequate room
for 8 Firefighters. It had a manual gearbox. The only drawback was it not having
power steering.
Reg JIH 999
Interesting information on
the Bedford HSC Fire Engine
In 1979 HSC Bedford developed its
high strength cab with unusually wide doors for access to the front and rear
of the cab. This cab was tested to withstand greater
crushes and impact loads compared to any other Fire Engine and so being very
safe to the firefighters in the event of an accident.. The
unique moulding on the front of
the cab was made by Moores Plastics in Kent, and so was known as "moores
front end". This HSC model was based on the Bedford TK chassis. It had an
1818 litre water tank and a godiva pump.
Here is a picture of our automatic Mercedes
Appliance which we had from September 2000 to September 2001. Coachworks
built by Hughes in Ireland.
Reg 91 DL 1999
Today's Appliance is our Scania 220 Automatic.
Pictured here is PJ Clancy (Retired Station
Officer) being presented with the keys of our new Fire appliance by Mr
Frank Kerrane, Chief Fire Officer for Donegal County Fire Service. The
Coachworks were built by Browns Coachworks in Lisburn
Today Fire Brigades in
Ireland are very modern and very highly trained and have the latest in up to date Firefighting,
RTC
and Rescue equipment. We thank Donegal County Council, Donegal Fire
Authority, the Chief Fire Officer and our Assistant Chief Fire Officers for the equipment they have invested
in the Bundoran Station and the training that we receive constantly and we hope that
in the very near future, they will provide us with a modern 2 bay Station which will
service the vastly growing tourist population we now see in Bundoran.
We thank our employers from
our main jobs who are always willing to let us leave work to attend firecalls and we also
would like to thank all our retired and deceased Firefighters, for their dedicated
long years of service that they gave to our community, for the vital knowledge
they gave to the new recruits, for without them, we would not
have built up the professional Fire Brigade we have today. We also thank their
families, who from day one become a vital part of the Fire Service.
Thank you from all the
crew.
The Irish Fire Service
Brief History of the Fire Service in Ireland
The Fire Brigades Act, 1940 was the basis
for the first countrywide fire-fighting system. It made it
mandatory for sanitary authorities, urban and rural, to make
reasonable provision for the prompt and efficient
extinguishing of fires in their areas and for the protection
and rescue of persons and property from injury by fire. In
doing this they were to take account of all relevant
considerations, including their financial resources. A
sanitary authority could discharge this duty either by
maintaining a fire brigade (in which case it became a fire
brigade authority) or by arranging with another sanitary
authority (or with persons) maintaining a fire brigade to
cover its district.
The then Minister for Local Government was
empowered to inquire, on complaint, into the adequacy of the
provision made by a local authority and could, in certain
circumstances, require local authorities to co-operate in the
provision of a fire service.
Modern legislation in the form of the Fire
Services Act, 1981 established the fire authorities and made
provision for the organisation of the fire service, training
of fire personnel, fire-fighting and fire safety, and other
matters relating to the protection of people and property from
fire.
Fire Authorities
The fire service is operated at local level
by 37 fire authorities. There are 220 fire stations throughout
the country with 3,330 serving fire service personnel, of whom
1,185 are full-time and 2,145 are retained (on a 24 hour
basis). List of fire stations and fire authorities are
provided on the right of your screen under publications and
documents.
|
Last updated
Wednesday October 12, 2011 This is not an official Donegal
County Fire Authority site and is compiled and
owned by
Bundoran Fire
Brigade www.bundoranfirebrigade.com
© Paul Kelly
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